On
the night of March 7th, a Desert Hot
Springs resident reported a fireball on the North
Face of Mt San Jacinto. On March 8th,
a small plane was reported overdue on a flight
through the area. The informant was contacted to
try to find out where the fireball was seen on
the North Face.

After
talking to the informant, we now had a good idea
where the missing plane might have gone. But to
find a plane in the wilderness is not an easy
task. So a call out for the morning of March 9th
was set up. We would have a helicopter and a
plane to search for the missing plane.

At
6:00 a.m. on March 9th, we met at Snow
Creek, the base of the North Face. A helicopter
was used for searching the area, but by 9:00
a.m., the missing plane had still not been
sighted. RMRU sent teams up the tramway to hike
the ridges to view anything below. Also, one team
was flown in to the top of Miller Peak. Five
teams were out in the field and the helicopter
continued searching.

Around
2:00 p.m. one team called in that they saw a tree
on the face that looked like it had recently
burned. Other teams started looking in the area
and confirmed the report. The helicopter was
guided in by the field teams and spotted the
wreck down in a canyon. A team was dropped into
the area and climbed down to the wreck. The team
found no one alive.

Because it was getting
dark, everyone either hiked out or were flown
out. A limited call out of eight people were
going to come back on March 10th and
do the body recovery.

On
the morning of March 10th the eight
members met and flew in with ropes and a
stretcher to do the evacuation. It was cloudy and
windy, the flying was very hard. The body was
finally ready to be flown out about 1:00 p.m.
Just then a call for a search for a missing three
year old boy came over the radio. Members at base
left immediately for the search area, Piņon
Flats. The field members were brought out just as
a snow storm hit the area. The members left for
the new search area. See mission 1991-009.

Additional
Note: The NTSB report (LAX91FA124)
indicated that the cargo pilot had probably
fallen asleep, drifted 10 miles south, and
collided with the mountain. The pilot had little
sleep since the previous flight and may have
taken Dimetapp decongestion pills which are know
to cause drowsiness.